As soon as the whistle blew both teams fronted up and an Olney error from the kick gave the visitors the first scrum.  The lighter Shelford pack held their opposition and the ball came out cleanly to the backs. Through successive phases of play, Shelford kept to their game plan and soon Naomi Linklater took the ball over the line at the corner.

Shelford, receiving the kick from the restart, ran back at the opposition and kept up an impressive level of intensity, matched by Olney. Shelford’s defensive pattern managed to hold the bigger team back for much of the first half and competition between the two teams was fierce until, after holding up Olney’s first attempt at a try, Shelford conceded the five points.

An errant shoelace for Tia Martin didn’t help the restart, and Olney were soon on the offensive. Shelford’s defence was consistently strong throughout the game with the whole team putting in some of their best tackles of the season. However, a crack in the defence was exploited by an Olney runner for another try and then just before half time a Shelford error on the try line meant that the score at half time was 17-5.

The second half saw both teams fighting as hard as ever but, as Shelford tired, old habits started to creep back and Olney were more than happy to punish the visitors for their mistakes. However, despite conceding a further 22 points in the second half, Shelford kept up their intensity and aggression and were rewarded with a team try in the dying minutes of the match. The final score of 39-10 doesn’t reflect the quality of rugby that Shelford managed this Sunday and, while every player on the pitch will be disappointed with the result, they should be proud of their performance this weekend.

Forward of the Match: Ivy Owens